Starbreeze Studios AB is a Swedish
video game developer
A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...
and
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
based in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
. The studios's notable games developed include ''
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay'', ''
Payday 2
''Payday 2'' is a cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's '' Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ...
'' and ''
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons''. Founded by members of the
demogroup
Demogroups are teams of demosceners, who make computer based audio-visual works of art known as demos. Demogroups form a subculture collectively known as the demoscene.
Groups frequently consist of students, young computer enthusiasts who spend ...
Triton
Triton commonly refers to:
* Triton (mythology), a Greek god
* Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune
Triton may also refer to:
Biology
* Triton cockatoo, a parrot
* Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails
* ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...
, the company was merged with O3 Games in 2002 wherein the Starbreeze name was retained. The company produced titles including ''
Enclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
'' and ''
Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade''. In the early 2000s, cancellations of their projects due to conflicts with publishers and a failed acquisition led to a severe financial crisis, resulting in staff lay-offs during the development of Starbreeze's fourth game, ''The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay''. This game received critical acclaim and helped Starbreeze establish a reputation for producing high-quality games. The company worked on ''
The Darkness'', whose sales were considered satisfactory.
Starbreeze partnered with
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
to develop a
reboot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
to the ''
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest.
Etymology
The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...
'' series, but it ended up being a commercial failure, and many staff members moved to rival company
MachineGames
MachineGames Sweden AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Uppsala. The studio was founded in 2009 by seven former employees of Starbreeze Studios, including founder Magnus Högdahl. After unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several ...
, established by Starbreeze's founders. As a result, the company shifted part of its focus to developing smaller games, such as ''Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons''. Starbreeze began expanding the company in 2012 with its acquisition of
Overkill Software
Overkill Software is a Swedish video game developer based and founded in Stockholm in 2009 by Ulf Andersson, Bo Andersson, the founders and owners of defunct game developer Grin, along with Simon Viklund. In 2012, Swedish game studio Starbreeze ...
. Overkill's first title after the acquisition, ''
Payday 2
''Payday 2'' is a cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's '' Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ...
'', helped Starbreeze make a record profit after suffering an accumulated loss of $14.4 million since its inception. In 2015, the company announced that it would start publishing video games from independent developers and that it had begun development of a
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
headset named Project Star VR.
Starbreeze had acquired a license to develop ''
Overkill's The Walking Dead
''Overkill's The Walking Dead'' is a first-person shooter developed by Overkill Software and published by Starbreeze Studios and 505 Games. The title, based on the comics of '' The Walking Dead'', has a strong emphasis on cooperative gameplay. T ...
'' from
Skybound Entertainment
Skybound Entertainment is an American multiplatform entertainment company founded by Robert Kirkman and David Alpert.
History
Skybound Entertainment is the company behind the long-running comic, '' The Walking Dead'', created by Robert Kirkman ...
, but the project fell into
development hell
Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, game engi ...
and once released in 2018, was poorly reviewed and had poor sales; the title was ultimately pulled and Skybound revoked Starbreeze's license. Having expected a financial boon from this game, Starbreeze spent a year in
restructuring
Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons ...
from December 2018 to December 2019 to regain financial footing, but had to sell off many of its publishing deals and other steps to be able to move forward.
History
Founding and merger (1998–2002)
Starbreeze Studios was founded by Swedish programmer Magnus Högdahl. Högdahl was a former member of the PC
demoscene
The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...
group
Triton
Triton commonly refers to:
* Triton (mythology), a Greek god
* Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune
Triton may also refer to:
Biology
* Triton cockatoo, a parrot
* Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails
* ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...
,
and specialized in making
tech demo
A technology demonstration (or tech demo), also known as demonstrator model, is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a conceivable product or future system, put together as proof of concept with the primary purpose of s ...
s. He decided to form Starbreeze after his project, an
action role-playing game
An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Definition
The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
named ''Into the Shadows'', was canceled.
He then decided to found his own studio and began crafting his own
game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...
.
He actively recruited staff among his acquaintances and the studio was established in 1998 in
Härnösand
Härnösand () is a locality and the seat of Härnösand Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 17,556 inhabitants in 2010. It is called "the gate to the High Coast" because of the world heritage landscape just a few miles north of Hà ...
, Sweden.
Högdahl serving as the company's head and tech lead, was responsible for creating a new game engine for future games, and looking for publishers willing to help publish its games.
At that time, the company had only about five employees,
and had created a prototype for a video game and pitched it to publishers at
E3 1998
E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
.
Gremlin Interactive
Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established in ...
agreed to publish the game, and the deal was finalized in late 1998. The company grew to have roughly eleven staff members. The game was a
first-person action role-playing game
An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.
Definition
The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...
named ''Sorcery''. With a
high fantasy
High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Pl ...
setting, the game featured
3D visuals and its gameplay was similar to that of ''
Diablo'' and ''
Quake''.
However, Gremlin Interactive was acquired by
Infogrames
Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...
in 2000 and the partnership with Starbreeze dissolved, resulting in the game's cancellation.
O3 Games was founded by Lars Johansson, who also was active in the
demoscene
The demoscene is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visual ...
. Its first game was ''
The Outforce'', a
real-time strategy
Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...
space game that was released in 2000 and subsequently became a success for the company. O3 needed to expand so that it could continue video game development.
After ''Sorcery'' cancellation, Starbreeze ran into financial difficulties. Unable to support itself financially, Starbreeze needed to merge with another developer to continue in business.
The two companies discussed a merger in
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
and merged shortly afterwards, retaining the name Starbreeze Studios.
Post-merger (2002–2009)
After the merger, the company began working on ''
Enclave
An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...
'', a
medieval fantasy
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic (fantasy), magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those ...
,
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
-only video game inspired by ''
Team Fortress
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...
''. The game also became the company's first project with international appeal, enabling Starbreeze to partner with various publishers including Swing Entertainment,
Conspiracy Entertainment
Conspiracy Entertainment (formerly Conspiracy Games) is an American third-party developer video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or extern ...
, and
Vivendi
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
.
However, Swing Entertainment faced
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
at that time, and decided to turn the game into a
single-player
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
action-adventure
The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...
video game with the goal of sending it to market as soon as possible.
The game was released in 2002, and Starbreeze had to lay off staff after its release.
''Enclave II'' was also in development. The sequel was said to feature a more elaborate story, 28 different maps, 10 playable characters, and an improved fighting system. However, these features were axed when Starbreeze got into legal troubles with the publisher, resulting in the game's cancellation.
Another game, ''
Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade'', was successfully released with help from publisher
TDK Mediactive
TDK Mediactive was the brand name used by Japanese company TDK as a media subsidiary in Europe, and as a video game publishing subsidiary in North America.
TDK Mediactive Europe
TDK Mediactive Europe was a division of TDK Recording Media Europ ...
. However its sequel was shifted to another developer.
Starbreeze attempted to acquire another studio,
Rock Solid Games, but the agreement between the two fell apart and brought both companies financial problems.
Another project being worked on by Starbreeze at that time was ''
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay''. Set in ''
The Chronicles of Riddick
''The Chronicles of Riddick'' is a 2004 American science fiction action film written and directed by David Twohy. It follows the adventures of Richard B. Riddick as he attempts to elude capture after the events depicted in the 2000 film '' Pitc ...
'' movie universe, the game was published by
Vivendi
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
. The team took inspiration from films such as ''
Escape from Alcatraz'' and video games such as ''
GoldenEye 007'' and the
''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' series. However, the company was downsizing due to its financial problems and the number of employees dropped from 80 to 25, and the entire development team moved away from the main Starbreeze floor to prevent it from being affected by low morale, and to allow it to focus on the game's development. The game enjoyed an 18-month development cycle, which was significantly longer than typical licensed games. A
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
version of the game was also in development, but was ultimately canceled as the then head of Vivendi's publishing division, Michael Pole, ordered its cancellation to "make his mark".
Universal Motion Pictures intervened and kept the game's
Xbox
Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
version. ''Escape from Butcher Bay'' received critical acclaim upon its launch, with many critics regarding it as one of the best licensed games ever made. Its gameplay element including the puzzle-solving mechanics, the stealth segment, and its ahead-of-its-time visuals, also received praise from critics.
Despite receiving critical acclaim, it was not a commercial success for Starbreeze.
After the release of ''Escape from Butcher Bay'', Starbreeze again encountered financial difficulties after having not received a significant
royalty payment
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
from Vivendi. It sold part of its motion capture and animation department to a British company, Centroid.
However, the game helped set Starbreeze's reputation as a studio capable of making good licensed titles. With the help of Union Entertainment, an
intermediary
An intermediary (or go-between) is a third party that offers intermediation services between two parties, which involves conveying messages between principals in a dispute, preventing direct contact and potential escalation of the issue. In law ...
company, Starbreeze signed an agreement with
Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment Company (formerly Majesco Sales Inc.) is an American video game publisher and distributor based in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986, and was a privately held company ...
for a new title set within ''
The Darkness'' universe owned by
Top Cow Comics
Top Cow Productions is an American comics publisher, an imprint of Image Comics founded by Marc Silvestri in 1992.
History
During the early years of Image Comics, which was founded in 1992, co-founder Marc Silvestri shared a studio with Jim Le ...
on July 16, 2004. Midway through the game's development, Majesco underwent restructuring because of financial difficulties, shifted its focus, and dropped the game.
2K Games
2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. 2K was founded under Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports labels, following Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of Visual Concepts that same m ...
stepped up and acquired the publishing rights. 2K extended the game's development cycle, and asked Starbreeze to develop a
multiplayer
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...
mode for the game. ''
The Darkness'' was released in 2007. It fared worse than the team expected critically, but its commercial performance was satisfactory, selling more than 1 million copies worldwide.
After working on two different licensed games, the team intended to develop its own games. A game named ''Kano'', involving
mind-reading, was started but was never completed. After the release of ''The Darkness'', the company signed a two-project contract with Vivendi. One of the games was a new property known as ''Polaris''. The game was set in a post-apocalyptic environment. Players were tasked to overcome snowstorms, and defeat terrorists and monsters cooperatively with other players. Vivendi was not convinced the game would succeed and adjusted the contract to a remake of ''Escape from Butcher Bay'', ''
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena''. Vivendi originally named the game ''Riddick 2'' but Starbreeze disagreed claiming the name would raise expectations among gamers that the remake might not be able to deliver.
Vivendi's subsidiary
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, ...
was set to publish the game. After the merger between
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
and
Vivendi
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
, the new company began streamlining Vivendi and put the game, along with ''
Brütal Legend
''Brütal Legend'' is an action-adventure video game with real-time strategy game elements created by Double Fine and published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game was released during October 2009 in North America, E ...
'', and ''
Ghostbusters: The Video Game'' up for sale.
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
eventually acquired the publishing rights and the game was released in 2009.
''Syndicate'', ''Payday 2'' and ''Brothers'' (2010–2016)
Starbreeze then partnered with
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
for two different games, one was known as ''Project Redlime'', while the other was an action-adventure video game set within the ''
Bourne
Bourne may refer to:
Places UK
* Bourne, Lincolnshire, a town
** Bourne Abbey
** Bourne railway station
* Bourne (electoral division), West Sussex
* Bourne SSSI, Avon, a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Burrington, North Somerset
* Bourne ...
'' universe. The ''Bourne'' game was canceled as a direct result of
Matt Damon
Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Americ ...
and director
Paul Greengrass
Paul Greengrass (born 13 August 1955) is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of historic events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras.
His early film ' ...
not participating in the fourth ''Bourne'' film. ''Project Redlime'' had a larger scale than the ''Bourne'' game. It was said to be a reinvention of one of Electronic Arts' franchises. The company shifted from a technology-orientated company to focus more on the core gameplay mechanics of their new project. ''
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest.
Etymology
The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...
'' was announced in September 2011. The game suffered from a troubled development, with Starbreeze completely reworking the game one year after its initial development. There were also many creative differences between the developer and the publisher, and the two companies suffered from an inharmonious relationship. During the game's development, seven senior members of the company, including Högdahl, left to form their own smaller studio. Some of them formed
MachineGames
MachineGames Sweden AB is a Swedish video game developer based in Uppsala. The studio was founded in 2009 by seven former employees of Starbreeze Studios, including founder Magnus Högdahl. After unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several ...
to work on their own original games.
With a budget that was less than other typical
AAA video games, ''Syndicate'' received average reviews and was a commercial failure. Grefberg left the company after the game's completion,
and 25 employees were laid off.
Many employees left Starbreeze when MachineGames recruited. Then CEO Johan Kristiansson also stepped down, and was replaced by Mikael Nemark. Nemark took the studio in a new direction. Besides focusing on AAA video games, it would also allocate resources to develop smaller, downloadable games in order to broaden the company's portfolio. These new games would no longer use the engine created by Högdahl. In 2011, Starbreeze announced that it was partnering with
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc. is an American video game and software developer and publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney as Potomac Computer Systems in 1991, originally located in his parents' house in Potomac, M ...
to use their engine,
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...
, for their first small titles. In 2012, Starbreeze announced ''Cold Mercury'', a
free-to-play
Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...
video game and a project codenamed ''P13''. Prior to that,
Josef Fares
Josef Fares (born 19 September 1977) is a Swedish-Lebanese film director and video game designer of Assyrian descent. His brother is the actor Fares Fares, who has appeared in many of his films. He is the founder of Hazelight Studios.
Biograph ...
, an award-winning Swedish director, had been unsuccessfully pitching game ideas to several Swedish developers. Starbreeze was in need of new, original properties, and accepted Fares' pitch. ''P13'' later became ''
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons''. Focusing on creating an emotional and "personal" experience, Starbreeze partnered with publisher
505 Games
505 Games S.p.A. is an Italian video game publisher based in Milan. It was founded in 2006 as a subsidiary of Milan-based Digital Bros.
History
505 Games was founded in 2006 in Milan as a subsidiary of Digital Bros. The company found its earl ...
to publish the game. It was released in 2013 to critical acclaim and received numerous awards and accolades. The rights to the ''Brothers''
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
was later acquired by 505 Games in 2015. After the success of ''Brothers'', Fares announced that he had established a new studio named
Hazelight
Hazelight Studios is a video game development company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded by director Josef Fares in 2014, the company is best known for developing cooperative multiplayer games ''A Way Out (video game), A Way Out'' and ''It Take ...
and is working on
a project with Electronic Arts.
In 2012, Starbreeze also announced that they had acquired
Overkill Software
Overkill Software is a Swedish video game developer based and founded in Stockholm in 2009 by Ulf Andersson, Bo Andersson, the founders and owners of defunct game developer Grin, along with Simon Viklund. In 2012, Swedish game studio Starbreeze ...
, the developer of ''
Payday: The Heist'', granting them rights to all of Overkill's proprietary technology and intellectual properties. At the time, Overkill was working on the sequel, ''
Payday 2
''Payday 2'' is a cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's '' Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ...
'', a game that was set to "broaden the ''Payday'' template". While officially, Starbreeze became Overkill's parent company, those close to the situation, speaking to ''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'', stated that it was more that Overkill's investors, which including Overkill's founders, brothers Bo and Ulf Andersson, became Starbreeze's majority shareholders; this deal had been made to help infuse cash into both the struggling Starbreeze and to provide funds for Overkill to pursue ''Payday 2''.
''Payday 2'' was a massive commercial success, and was profitable from pre-order sales alone. ''Payday 2'' also became Starbreeze's best selling game of all time, and helped the company to make a record profit for the first time after suffering an accumulated loss of $14.4 million between 1998 and June 2013. The game's success also prompted publisher 505 Games to invest $5 million in Starbreeze in March 2015 to continue to improve and develop additional content for ''Payday 2'' over twenty months. The game was ported to
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
under the title ''Payday 2: Crimewave Edition''. Starbreeze moved its offices from
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
to Overkill's offices in Stockholm,
and Bo Andersson was named CEO of Starbreeze in 2013 following the acquisition of Overkill.
Debut as a publisher and acquisitions (2014–2017)
Starting in 2014 Starbreeze began broadening its business as a publisher. On September 25, 2014, Starbreeze Studios announced that they had acquired a Los Angeles-based studio called Geminose for $7 million. The studio is currently working on a toys-to-life game. It also announced that it had gained the license for Overkill to make ''
Overkill's The Walking Dead
''Overkill's The Walking Dead'' is a first-person shooter developed by Overkill Software and published by Starbreeze Studios and 505 Games. The title, based on the comics of '' The Walking Dead'', has a strong emphasis on cooperative gameplay. T ...
'' (''OTWD''), a game set in ''
The Walking Dead'' universe using gameplay concepts of ''Payday'', with a planned release in 2016.
In May 2015, Starbreeze announced that the company would start publishing video games from independent developers. The first independent title set to be published by Starbreeze is ''Raid: World War II'', an upcoming four-player, World War II shooter, being developed by Lion Game Lion. During
E3 2015
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015 (E3 2015) was the 21st E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It took place from June 16 to June 18, 2015, with 52,200 total attendees.
Major exhibit ...
, Starbreeze Studios announced Project StarVR, a
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
(VR) headset, which is currently under development by InfinitEye, a firm acquired by Starbreeze. They also partnered with IMAX with the creation of IMAX VR "experience centres." The company also acquired Payday Productions and the film rights to ''Payday'' in July 2015. The company acquired the under-development Valhalla game engine, a VR-ready platform, in 2015 for around , which was planned to be used for all of its subsequent games.
In February 2016, Starbreeze announced that it would be publishing ''
Dead by Daylight
''Dead by Daylight'' is an asymmetric multiplayer survival horror online game developed by Canadian studio Behaviour Interactive. It is a one-versus-four game in which one player takes on the role of a savage Killer and the other four play as Su ...
'', an
asymmetrical
Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...
, multiplayer, survival horror game developed by
Behaviour Interactive
Behaviour Interactive Inc. is a Canadian video game development studio specializing in the production of 2D and 3D action/adventure games for home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, PCs and mobile. Based in Montreal, Canada, the compan ...
. On May that year, 505 Games announced that it had sold the ''Payday'' franchise and intellectual property to Starbreeze in exchange for US$30 million worth of stock. Starbreeze also announced that they had acquired the name and the franchises of
Cinemaware
Cinemaware was a video game developer and publisher that released several titles in the 1980s based on various film themes. The company was resurrected in 2000, before being acquired by eGames in 2005.
Cinemaware Corp. (1986–1991)
The comp ...
a day later. On December 16, 2016, the company acquired a 90.5% controlling stake in Indian-based
Dhruva Interactive at a price worth $8.5 million
The core Starbreeze team also received investment from Korean publisher
Smilegate
Smilegate is a South Korean video game developer and Video game developer, publisher, which develops, publishes and services mobile and PC online games. It has five core business sectors: game development, publishing, platform, investment and soc ...
to develop a new first-person cooperative game set within the ''
Crossfire
A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I.
...
'' universe. The studio has engaged in two separate "publishing-only" investments to help publish ''
Psychonauts 2
''Psychonauts 2'' is a platform game developed by Double Fine and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was announced at The Game Awards 2015 ceremony, and released on August 25, 2021 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and ...
'' and ''
System Shock 3
''System Shock 2'' is a 1999 action role-playing survival horror video game designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during product ...
'' for $8 and $12 million, respectively. In both cases, the respective developers,
Double Fine Productions
Double Fine Productions, Inc. is an American First-party developer, first-party video game developer of Xbox Game Studios based in San Francisco, California. Founded in July 2000 by Tim Schafer shortly after his departure from LucasArts, Double ...
and
OtherSide Entertainment
OtherSide Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 2013 by Looking Glass Studios co-founder Paul Neurath. In June 2016, the company opened a second studio in Austin, Texas, led by Warren ...
, retain all intellectual property rights, while Starbreeze seeks full recovery of their investment and a small amount more from revenues, after which they share further revenues with the developers.
Starbreeze also published ''John Wick Chronicles'', a ''
John Wick
''John Wick'' is an American action thriller media franchise created by Derek Kolstad and centering around John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned.
The franchise began with the release of ''J ...
'' game developed by WEVR and Grab for virtual reality platforms, released in February 2017. In October 2017, Starbeeze sold a 66.7% majority stake in StarVR Corporation to
Acer Inc.
Acer Inc. ( ) is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation specializing in advanced electronics technology, headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City. Its products include desktop PCs, laptop PCs ( clamshells, 2-in-1s, co ...
Economic problems and restructuring (2018–present)
Following its announcement in 2015, Starbreeze had placed high emphasis on ''OTWD'' to financially support the company alongside ''Storm'', which was merged from Starbreeze's own ''Cold Mercury''. However, ''OTWD'' development suffered from several delays. With the acquisition of the Valhalla engine, ''OTWD'' was switched from the Diesel to the Valhalla engine, which proved extremely troublesome to work with and pushed back the release window from 2016 to 2017.
By early 2017, the developers were still struggling with Valhalla, and the decision was made to scrap the previous two years of work and restart development anew on the
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal''. Initially developed for PC first-person shooters, it has since been used in a variety of genres ...
, while further delaying the game into 2018.
Issues related to micromanagement, "crunch time" to get the game out without further delay, and struggles by a significant portion of the Starbreeze and Overkill staff to learn Unreal led to the game being rushed to completion.
''OTWD'' release to personal computers in November 2018 received mixed reviews from critics and underperformed commercially, with only about 100,000 units sold.
By February 2019, Skybound Entertainment pulled its licensing contract for ''OTWD'' for the game's failure to meet expected standards and quality requirements, officially halting further development of the Windows version and canceling the console ports.
The failure of ''OTWD'' prompted Starbreeze to file for reconstruction due to shortage of liquidity in December 2018. Starbreeze also halted ongoing development work for ''Payday 2'' during this period.
CEO Bo Andersson stepped down after filing for reconstruction, with Mikael Nermark replacing as Acting CEO. Bo Andersson together with Kristofer Arwin also resigned from the Board of Directors. Starbreeze's financial crisis drew the attention of the
Swedish Economic Crime Authority, as in mid-November 2018, Bo Andersson had sold his shares of Starbreeze for about , before Starbreeze's announcement of financial difficulty. Following Starbreeze's reconstruction announcement, the Economic Crime Authority raided several locations, including Starbreeze Headquarters related to insider trading. Andersson was taken into custody, but was later released and cleared of any charges, as it was found that his bank
Carnegie Investment Bank
Carnegie Investment Bank AB is a Swedish financial services group with activities in securities brokerage, investment banking and private banking.
Founded in 1803, Carnegie is headquartered in Stockholm with offices across the Nordic region, as ...
had pressed Andersson into selling the shares.
Sebastian Ahlskog, the company's former CFO, was convicted with insider trading charges in February 2020, and was fined approximately . However, Ahlskog was later acquitted of this conviction in appeals by September 2021.
In the wake of this investigation, Starbreeze's financial situation became dire, and by May 2019 the studio's own estimates were that it lacked sufficient funds to continue operating for the next year. During this period, the studio requested two separate three-month extensions to complete its corporate restructuring. Starbreeze divested itself of several studios and games. OtherSide Entertainment bought out the publication rights for their ''System Shock 3'' in February 2019, while
Mohawk Games
''Mohawk Games'' is an American video game developer based in Baltimore, Maryland, known for releasing the strategy video games ''Offworld Trading Company'' and ''Old World''.
History
Mohawk games was co-founded in 2013 by Firaxis veterans Soren ...
reacquired publishing rights for ''
10 Crowns'' in April. In May 2019, Starbreeze sold its share of
Dhruva Interactive to
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
for , who subsequently merged Dhurva into its
Rockstar India studio. Starbreeze laid off about 60 positions, roughly 25% of its staff, as additional cost-saving measures in June 2019. The same month, Starbreeze sold the publishing rights for ''Psychonauts 2'' to
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
for . A third extension was filed and approved in September 2019, which expired by December 3, 2019.
Starbreeze announced in October 2019 that to resolve their financial situation, they will split off into two new companies: New Starbreeze Publishing AB and New Starbreeze Studios AB. Most of Starbreeze's assets, principally the IP rights to ''Payday'', will reside with the publishing arm. On the assumption that the financial settlement is accepted, the company plans on focusing on release of ''Payday 3'' by 2022-2023 which will be its primary revenue driver. The company also began renewed development on ''Payday 2'' to create new downloadable content, but stated that this would be for purchase, apologizing for reneging on its "forever-free-content" assurance they had made some years prior, with plans to use the revenues to help the company's finances.
Starbreeze's restructuring was completed and approved by the courts by December 2019, about a year after the first financial concerns were raised. Net losses for the year of restructuring were estimated to be about . In its financial report released in February 2020 covering this restructuring, Starbreeze stated that they currently were primarily dependent on ''Payday 2'' content sales for revenue and re-stated their intent to release a ''Payday 3'' in the near future for further growth.
The Italian publisher Digital Bros (which also owns ''Payday 2'' publisher
505 Games
505 Games S.p.A. is an Italian video game publisher based in Milan. It was founded in 2006 as a subsidiary of Milan-based Digital Bros.
History
505 Games was founded in 2006 in Milan as a subsidiary of Digital Bros. The company found its earl ...
), announced its intent in January 2020 to acquire the Starbreeze assets at the time held by Smilegate for about . While Digital Bros was the majority shareholder in Starbreeze, the acquisition of Smilegate's share of Starbreeze would give Digital Bros more control of Starbreeze's development strategy. In March 2020, Mats Juhl was appointed as Starbreeze's
chief financial officer
The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...
, replacing Claes Wenthzel.
Starbreeze announced in October 2020 that Mikael Nermark had resigned as CEO of Starbreeze AB with immediate effect due to personal reasons. Starbreeze's Board of Directors appointed Tobias Sjögren as acting CEO and initiated a search process. In March 2021, Tobias Sjögren was appointed permanent CEO of Starbreeze.
Starbreeze signed a publishing deal with
Koch Media
Plaion (formerly Koch Media) is a German-Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, Austria, with an operating subsidiary based in Planegg, Germany. The company was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The company ...
in March 2021 that fully financed the remaining development, publishing, and post-launch support of ''Payday 3'', with the game targeted for a 2023 release.
Games
Games developed
Games published
Notes
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Swedish companies established in 1998
Companies based in Stockholm
Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm
Härnösand
Video game companies established in 1998
Video game companies of Sweden
Video game development companies
Video game publishers